Terminal box.



A. C. McWILLlAMS.

TERMINAL BOX. APPLICATION FILED 050.21, 1912.

1,148,699. Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

1 45 3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

A. C. McWlLLIAMS. TERMINAL BOX. APPLICATION FLED nsc.21,1912.

1,148,699. Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- A. C. McWILLlAMS.

TERMINAL BOX.

APPLICATION HLED DEC-2i, 1912.

Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

.a certain new and ARTHUR C. MOWILLIAMS, OF SOUTH BEND,

INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE CUTTER COMPANY, OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA,AOORPORATION OF INDIANA.

TERMINAL BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

Application filed December 21, 1912. Serial No. 737,928.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR C. MoWiL- LIAMS, acitizen of the United States, residing at South Bend, in the county ofSt. Joseph and State of Indiana, have invented useful Improvement inTerminal Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that in buildingscontaining a number of tenants, for example office buildings and largeapartment buildings, it frequently becomes necessary to connect anddisconnect the meters, and to make rearrangements in the meteringconnections. In such places loose wires add greatly to the fire hazardand are also a source of interruption to the service and danger andinconvenience to the operating electrician.

The object of my invention is to provide a terminal box especiallyadapted for use in connection with a metering system so constructed thatloose wires will be totally avoided.

By the use of my box the ends of the leadin in and leading out wires aresecurely he d in definite positions and are kept separate from eachother.

It is my purpose also to provide a construction such that when a meteris removed, the loose wires or meter loops may be readily removed withthe meter thus relieving the metering system of any wires having looseends.

It is common practice in installing metering systems to employ meteringpanel boards, inclose the board in a cabinet, and group the meterssymmetricall around the closet. Commercial meters 0 the present day,however, are built in a variety of forms and the leading in and leadingout and pressure wires connect to the different meters at a variety ofpoints.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a terminal box whichmay be practically universal in various meters and to the various waysof grouping the meters about the meter cabinet.

Another object is to provide means whereby the boxmay be locked and thecontents thereof rendered inaccessible when the box is not in use. ThisI accomplish without the use of extra parts, the cover being itsapplication to the present at all times whether the box is in use or islocked.

Other objects of my invention relate to advantageous details ofconstruction which will be hereinafter more particularly described.

I accomplish my objects by the construction illustrated in theaccompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of myterminal box showing'it in condition for use with the cover in position.Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the cover removed. Fig. 3 is aperspective view showing the box in condition for nonuse. Fig. 4c is afront sectional view of the box, the plane of section being indicated bythe line 44 Fig. 10. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the box without thecover, the section being taken on a line 5-5 Fig. 4:. Fig. 6 is aperspective view of the cover with the knock-outs in place. Fig. 7 is ahorizontal sectional View indicating a complete installation and showinga grouping of the meters, panel board, cabinet and my terminal box allin position within in a metering closet. Figs. 8 and 9 show twodifierent types of meters and the way in which the meter wires or loopslead out from them. Fig. 10 is a sectional view of my terminal boxcomplete, the section being taken on the line 10-10, Fig. 4. Fig. 11 1sa perspective view of a test link adapted for use in the box.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The box consists of three principal parts, the terminal block 1, thefront cover 2, and a back cover 3. Said block consists of porcelain orother insulating material, while the covers will ordinarily be made ofpressed metal. The back cover is preferably provided with screw holes 4.for securing the device to a wall or panel such as the one marked 5 inFig. 7 of the drawings. Under ordinary circumstances the leading inwires which come from the source of electrical energy through the anelboard are incased in a conduit 6, see Figs. 7 and 10. The back cover 3is apertured to receive the extremity of the conduit and the best meansfor securing the latter are the bushing 8 and nut 9. In the preferredform of my device, provision is made for permitting the conduit to enterat any desired point by forming circular knock-outs 10 in the cover, asbest shown in Figs. 5 and 10.

The terminal block 1, above mentioned, in the present form has fourcorner sockets 12 which receive screws 13 screwing into flanges 14 ofthe back cover for fastening the parts together, as best shown in Fig.5. The block is substantially rectangular in outline and in the presentinstance has a peripheral ledge 16 for supporting the top cover. Thereare four apertures 18 passing through the block for the accommodation ofthe leading in wires. These apertures are located approximately at thefour corners of the block just inside the peripheral flange 20 whichparallels the edges of the block. In the best form said flange isintegral with the block. It is provided with four gates 21 which lieopposite to the apertures 18. There is a fifth aperture 23 passingthrough the block preferably somewhat near the center thereof, andopposite .to this in the flange 20 is a gate 24.- This aperture 23 isfor accommodating the pressure wire which comes in through the conduitand attaches to a binding post 26, best shown in Figs. 2 and 4. Saidbinding post is electrically connected to a strip 27 provided with abinding post 28 located opposite to the gate 24.

The leading in wires, coming in through the conduit 6 and passing upthrough the apertures 18 attach to leading in lugs 30, two in "number.These lugs in the preferred form have a body portion which lieschiefly'within the aperture and a tail portion which attaches by bindingposts 31 to strips 32 of conductive material mounted upon the face ofblock .1. These strips 32 parallel the edges of the block and extendapproximately from one aperture 18 to another. One of these strips,however, is interrupted in the middle, as best shown in Fig. 5 and thelower portion of Fig. 4, the

purpose being to provide for a test link 33 which is, held in connectionwith the strip ends by binding posts 34. The purpose of thisconstructionTs to permit the meter and its connections to be tested whennecessary. At the opposite end of each connecting strip 32 is a leadingout lug 36 attached to strip 32 by a binding post 31. Each. leading outlug has a tail which the binding post engages and a body portion whichleads toward the adjacent gate 21. These lugs 30 and 36 are ada ted'toreceive the ends of the wires by w ich the current is carried. The Inare interchangeable in the sense that a eading in lug may be replaced bya leading out lug and vice versa.

The top cover is flanged to fit over the flanges 20 of the block and isscored on the opposite sides or otherwise worked up to form knock-outs38. The electrician may readily remove anyone of these knock-outs by ahammer or other tool and thus obtain an aperture in the cover flangeadjacent to such one of the gates as he wishes to use.

and securing said wire by a seal 43.

The box is used in the following manner When the metering system isbeinginstalled the constructing electrician first notes the type ofmeter which has. been furnished him and the manner in which the meterloops lead from the meter. He also notes the position which the terminalbox is supposed to occupy with relation to its meter. This enables himto decide whether the pressure wire is to lead out toward the right ortoward the leftor toward the bottom or top, and mounts the deviceaccordingly. Let it be assumed that the meter closet; ap pears as shownin Fig. 7. In harmony with this, arrangement the fmeters and terminalboxes will be mounted upon the panel 5 surrounding the cut-out cabinet45. meters are first mounted upon said panel and adjacent to each metera slot is made in the panel of proper size to accommodate the back cover3and the major portion of the block 1, the peripheral ridge 16; restingupon the front of the panel. After the conduit 6 has been fastened inplace so as to lead as directly as possible from the cut-out cabinet tothe terminal box, the leading in wires are passed through it and up tothe lugs 30. Let it be assumed that the meters are of a type in whichthe pressure wire leads out from the left While one of the supply wiresleads out from the left and the other leads out from the right. case hewill place the box in the position shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 10, with thegate 24 at the left. He will also place the leading in lug 3() in themanner shown to connect the leading in wires with the right end of oneof the strips'32 and-theleft end of the other strip. .He will then placethe leading out lugs 36 at the opposite end of said strips. Inconsequence, the meter loops or wires will all lead directly from therespective lugs straight out through the adjacent gates in the flange 20and thence by shortest possible route to the openings in the meter.

In some types of meter the meter loops all lead out of the bottom of themeter, as shown in Fig. 8. In other types, such as the one shown in Fig.9, the pressure loop leads out from the right while the other two leadout from the left. All of these conditions may be met with my box byThe.

In such merely turning the block 1 so thatthe presthe opening providedfor it in the meter. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 9, gate 24 islocated at the right. But the block as well as the front and back coversare square in cross section so that either part may be rotated 90degrees relatively to any v other part. As a result the meter loops arealways of minimum length, and furthermore it is so easy to disconnectthe meter loops from the box that the loops may always be removed withthe meter instead of remaining in place and forming a source ofannoyance and danger.

After the meter loops have been connected up, the cover 2 is adjusted inplace, the electrician first removing such of the knockouts 38 as may benecessary for the accommodation of the loops, These knock-outs arelocated only on the two opposite edges of the cover and consequently thetwo remaining edges of the cover always remain imperforate. As a resultof this latter fact, when the meter loops are absent, the binding postsand other contents of my box may be completely inclosed by merelyturning the cover on the block 90 degrees in either direction. This willbring an imperforate portion of the cover flange'adjacent to theperforate or gated portion of the block flange 20, thus preventingingress at these points, at the same time the imperforate portions ofthe flange 20 come adjacent to the perforate portions of the coverflange and prevent ingress at these points. This is important, for whenthe cover is fastened in position by the nut 41, and sealed by a sealsuch as 43, there is no possible way for an unauthorized person to tapin, and steal current or disturb the wiring without detection. "Almostthe same amount of security may be obtained with my terminal box whenthe meter loops are in place, for

- at such times, if the cover is sealed, the

loops will partially or wholly fill the gates and the internal bindingposts will be completely out of reach from the outside.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A terminal block and a covereach hav-' ing flanges provided withgates which register with each other when the cover is m one positionand come out of register when the cover is in a diiferent position, theflanges being arranged upon the plan of a square whereby the flangesthemselves serve to prevent both shifting and rotation of the cover andthe cover is capable of occupying four different positions ninetydegrees apart.

2. A terminal block and cover, the block having a gated and an ungatedflange, and the cover also having a gated and an ungated flange, saidflanges interlocking with each other and being arranged upon the plan ofa square whereby the cover may be rotated to any one of four positionsninety degrees apart, and the cover will be locked in any one of itspositions against relative shifting and relative rotation with respectto the block, a gate in a flange on the block registering with a gate ina flange on the cover when the cover is in one position and an ungatedflange on the cover coming adjacent to a gated flange 'on-the block whenthe cover is in a diflerent position.

3. A terminal block and cover having interfitting flanges arranged onthe plan of a square whereby the cover is held against rotation andshifting and is capable of occupying any one of four positions ninetydegrees apart, two of the flanges on the block having gates, the gateson one of the gated flanges being arranged non-symmetrically with thegates on the other gated flange, one of the flanges on the cover havinga row of knock-outs any one of which is individually removable wherebythe operator is afforded a choice as to which of the gates in theflanges upon the block he desires to leave accessible from the outsideof the device, and whereby when a single knock-out is removed, it willregister with a ate upon one of the flanges of the block, an will notregister with any gate upon the other gated flange of the block.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presenceof two witnesses.

ARTHUR O. MOVVILLIAMS.

Witnesses D. K. OHADBOURNE, L. MOKINZIE.

